


A Little Bit...Off

by kittypox



Series: Dadverse [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha dad is acting weird, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Dad Kogane - Freeform, Gen, Omega Verse, Omega son is concerned, Tex Kogane, pre-sheith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 13:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14309925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittypox/pseuds/kittypox
Summary: Something is very wrong with Tex, but Keith can’t put his finger on it.





	A Little Bit...Off

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-sheith part of the dadverse fic

He knew something was off as soon as he sat up and opened his eyes. Keith sat in bed a moment, feeling his heart rate change, recognizing the signs of his body reacting to strong pheromones.  _Alpha?_ , he thought, taking a light sniff of the air. It had been awhile since one had wandered close to their house, but no, it wasn't an alpha. At least, it wasn't a strange alpha. That was good; he hated when his body reacted to the scent of a stranger. 

It was his father, his nose told him, but he could not place the odd tinge to the smell. It was strong and musky, a great deal more aggressive then he was used to his father smelling. Had something happened, he wondered, getting out of bed and peering out his bedroom door. His father had a temper, but he had never smelled this anger before. In the kitchen, he could hear the man shuffling about, cursing lightly as he banged pots and pans together. 

He approached warily. "Dad?"

His father's head snapped up, eyes narrowed and annoyed. He tensed and whined instinctively, taking a hasty step backwards. Immediately, the look on the man's face softened.

"There's my boy." Tex crooned. "Come and eat. I made breakfast."

Keith hesitated. "Is everything alright?"

"'Course it is. Now eat. Daddy made you a big meal."

Something was terribly wrong, but still he could not place it. Keith took his seat, eyeing his father carefully. Tex stared back, his gaze intense and unnerving. He placed a heaping plate of bacon, eggs, and pancakes before his son and continued to stare.

It looked appetizing, but Keith couldn't eat.  "Dad, are you mad at me?"

"What?" Tex appeared taken aback. "Of course daddy isn't mad at you. Why would you ask that?"

"...Because you only refer to yourself as 'daddy' when you're mad and you want to remind me that I'm your one and only precious child and I should be a good, obedient son."

Almost the man protested, but Tex knew himself better than that. There was more than a grain of truth to what Keith said. He forced himself to get a plate for himself and stop staring at his son with the intensity of a supernova. He could smell how tense Keith was. At least the boy hadn't figured out what was up yet. 

Breakfast was an awkward affair. Every few minutes Keith would pause and stare at him with a worried expression, puzzling over the strange behavior. At one point he outright asked what the smell was, but Tex expertly avoided the question. Baby didn't need to know yet. As long as he could put off telling, he would. As smart as Keith was, he was certain his son would figure it out soon enough...Especially when he was giving off clear signs.  

When Keith finished washing his dishes he beelined for the porch, likely to go wandering before the afternoon sun came out and made the day unbearable. He was halfway out the door when Tex caught him up under the arms, hauled him off his feet, and carried him to bed. Keith keened in confusion as they went not to his room but to Tex's room and he was set in a mess of blankets. It took a moment for him to realize that he was sitting in a nest, it was so poorly made. He pulled at the blankets, brow raised.

"Why do you have a nest, dad?"  He refrained from pointing out how badly it was put together. Alphas didn't have the same nest building skills omegas had. He couldn't really judge.

Tex frowned as his son fiddled with the blankets, fixing them to his liking. "It's fer you."

"...Me?"

"Just lay down and go to sleep, son. Daddy will be right here."

This was beginning to grow alarming. "I'm not in heat, dad. I don't nest when I'm not in heat. Unless I'm really stressed. Or pregnant. Which I am neither of those things." He added the last bit hastily, knowing how sensitive his father was to the idea of his getting pregnant. Apparently even immaculate conception was within the realm of possibility in his father's mind. 

Tex sighed, a wave of exhaustion cresting over him. "Just lay down and sleep."

"Dad." He shook his head and made to leave the nest. He was immediately placed back. "Dad, are you sick or something?"

"If I say yes, will you settle down already?" He was having flashbacks to Keith in his cradle, constantly crawling over the side to freedom. 

Keith narrowed his eyes. He needed to know what was going on. His father was not sick; he knew the scent of illness well enough to recognize that that was not the problem. His father would not tell him what was truly wrong, that much was clear. Pride was getting in the way, he suspected. Alpha pride always made things more difficult. 

"You smell weird, dad."

Tex sighed and put a blanket over his son. "Go to bed. Daddy will make you lunch when you get up."

"I  _just_  got up!"

"You are not leaving that nest, young man."

" _Why_?"

Tex growled suddenly. The timbre was far different than what Keith was used to when being scolded and he folded immediately, cowering slightly at the threatening tone. For a split second, he did not trust his father. The annoyed expression on his father's face vanished and just as suddenly he was pulled into the man's lap and nuzzled.

"Shhhh, don't cry. Everything is alright. Daddy isn't mad."

"I wasn't crying..."

There was no use protesting, Keith concluded. His father was in his own little world, snuggling him, settling him back into the nest like a toddler, keening to comfort him. Whatever the hell was wrong, he wasn't likely to get to the bottom of it anytime soon. Rather than fight, he laid down and grumbled.

"Can I at least have one of my books?"

That was acceptable. His father fetched a paperback novel for him. Not exactly what Keith wanted, he would have preferred his physics book, but he did not want to press his luck. After three hours, he had earned enough trust that Tex wandered into the den to tinker with the equipment there. Any time Keith moved though, he heard his father pause in his work to listen, presumably to make sure he wasn't sneaking out of the nest. This was going to be tricky, but Keith had an idea.

When he wandered out of the bedroom, Tex sat up, staring at him like a hawk. 

"Just going to the bathroom." he murmured, walking as casually as he could. His father nodded, continuing to watch him.

For good measure, he did stop and pee. Knowing his father and his odd behavior, Tex was probably straining to hear, to make sure he was doing his business. Weirdo. He was careful not to make any noise as he eased the window open just far enough so that he could escape. A quick tumble to the ground later and he was a free man. If he moved fast enough, he could be down to the main road before his father suspected anything was amiss.

Or so he thought. 

As soon as he rounded the side of the house, the porch door swung open and Tex came running out. The aggressive scent was rolling off of him in waves and Keith froze at the smell. It was probably a good thing that his fright instincts kept him immobile; had he made his father chase him, he wasn't sure the punishment he would receive. As was, Tex scooped him in his arms, growling a warning, and deposited him back in the nest. 

"Now daddy  _is_  upset."

Keith whined. "It's hot, dad. I wanna go outside and feel the breeze."

"You are staying right where I can see you."

God, his father was paranoid that day. "...Can we go to the lake? Together?"

"I'll think about it. First, you're gonna eat lunch."

He made to follow the man to the kitchen, but as soon as he set his foot to the ground Tex was striding back. The message was painfully, abundantly clear: do not leave the nest. Sighing, Keith flopped on his side and glared out the window. A bird flapped by, taunting him, and he hissed.

"What was that?" Tex bellowed from the kitchen. Ears of a bat. 

"Nothing." he huffed.

When his father came back, he held a tray of sandwiches and a cup of juice. The sandwiches were cut into fourths, the crusts carefully shaved off. Keith could not remember his father ever going to that much trouble to make a sandwich. Usually the man slapped meat or jam on the bread, squished it together, and that was that. That was all there needed to be.

"Why did you mutilate the sandwich?" he asked, taking one of the tiny triangles.

Tex reached out to stroke his hair. "So it's easier for you to eat."

Keith shook his head. His father was possessed. That was the only answer. Some desert demon had snuck in during the night, crawled into the man's ear, and had taken root. He needed to call Ern and have the man come over to talk sense to his dad.  Surely another alpha dad could talk Tex down. 

He considered how he would get to the phone, trapped as he was, when he bit into the salty meat.  Gagging, he spat the wad of mashed food onto the plate, staring at the sandwich in shock. Bologna? He hand't had bologna in years. When he was a kid, it was almost all his father had fed him, but his palate had expanded to better things, like sweet honey ham and filet mignon. Could he even consider bologna a meat any more? It was processed spam. There was no going back from filet minon. 

"Gross, dad!" he tossed the sandwich down and reached for the other one, praying it was made of better meat. Alas, no meat. Just peanut butter and jelly. It would suffice. 

Tex stared at him as he chewed. There was no escaping helicopter dad. He did not make an attempt to leave the nest again. With nothing better to do, he spent the rest of the day napping, trying to ignore the odd, heavy scent that clung to his father. It was driving him mad, not knowing what the smell was, but every time he pressed for an answer, his father conveniently found something else to talk about. 

He had hoped that after dinner he would be allowed back into his own room but no. Being allowed to sit at the kitchen table was a gift. As soon as dinner was over, Tex was dragging him back to the nest. 

"I can't even sleep in my own bed?" Keith growled. 

Tex huffed back warningly. "You're staying where daddy can keep an eye on you."

God, it was childhood all over again, when he had to sleep with his bedroom door open, in case he took to wandering at night. His father had zero trust in him. By then the fight had gone out of him. With a resigned sigh, he adjusted the nest to his liking and settled in. He prayed that his father would be back to normal the following day. 

Getting to sleep was a mighty feat though, with Tex curled around the nest, ever the watchful parent. When he did little more than toss and turn for the first thirty minutes, his father leaned in to nuzzle is hair and croon.  Tex did not appreciate the hand shoving his face away. 

" _Not_  a baby, dad."

Tex huffed, fluffing the blankets around his son. "Always my baby."

\-------

Ern came to the rescue several days too late. Three days of his father's ridiculous behavior had driven Keith up the wall. He had attempted to run away while the man slept, but he was caught within minutes. Dad had not been happy. If he had thought being stuck in the nest was embarrassing, being carried around on his father's back every time the man moved was death. Thank god the nearest neighbor was five miles away. He would not be able to live, knowing someone had seen his fall. 

When Ern's pickup pulled into the driveway Tex growled softly, carefully setting Keith in his nest.

"Stay."  he commanded.

Keith sighed and nodded, burrowing into the blankets.

He did not know how long he hid among the blankets, thoughts wandering here and there. His father's voice drifted in from time to time, but the words were always garbled and unclear. Whatever was being said, he prayed Ern sensed that something was off and came to set him free. 

Forty minutes passed and he grew restless. It was time to be bold. If he raised his father's ire, so be it; at least Ern would see what he was dealing with. Hopping from bed, he swung the door open and dashed into the living room...only to find Tex and Ern sharing a beer. His father looked dejected and, at his sudden appearance, his face crumbled. Ern, who had been laughing quietly before, broke into a fit of chest heaving guffaws.

"...What? What did I do?" Keith asked, shifting from foot to foot self-consciously.

"You ain't do nothing, lil' Kogane. It's yer dad here who did the bad."

Keith's head snapped in his father's direction, gaze accusing. "What did he do? It's the smell, isn't it? What is it? Dad, have you been alpha drunk for the past three days?"

"Ugh, I wish, son." Tex pressed his fingers to his knees, resisting the urge to reach for his child and drag him onto his lap, where he could keep him close and safe. 

Keith continued to stare at his father, arms folded across his chest. For three days he had puzzled over the smell, desperately trying to figure out what it was. It was alpha smell, but much,  _much_  more.  _But what was it_? He had not discovered the scent or the cause. His dad had simply gone insane; that was the conclusion he had drawn. 

Tex refused to offer anything. 

"Yer dad is in a rut." Ern said helpfully at the prolonged silence.

"Damnit, Ern, the boy doesn't need to know that!"

Keith blinked, arms dropping. "You're in a rut?" he asked, incredulous. 

All at once the strong alpha smell made sense. He made a face; his father's rut did not smell like any other alpha rut he had smelled before. Maybe his father really  _was_  sick. 

Ern chuckled, dispelling the final mystery. "Apparently, if an alpha doesn't have a mate, or at least a good fuck-buddy, their natural instincts focus on things other than sex. Like coddling their baby."

Tex groaned." I'm never gonna live this down."

" _You're_ never gonna live it down?" Keith asked, annoyed. "Try being the one stuck in the nest all week! Please, do me a favor and  _never_  go into a rut again!"

Tex heaved a sighed. "I'll try my best, son."  


End file.
